Wow it don't get much better than yesterday ( 5/31/14 )
About 10:00 am the VA Flagger's put up Flag # 2
About 1 hour north of Richmond !
( No tree problem )
Thanks FLAGGER'S
And at at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond
I got to Hollywood early and visited my ancestor William Henry Tatum
First Company Richmond Howitzers.
I spoke to him and thanked him for all he had done,
I also mentioned that many people were reading his letters and were learning from them.
A warm feeling came over me, as if he understood what I was saying.
I left him a Token of thanks and a new flag.
At 3:00 pm the Finest Ceremony I have ever attended began.
The wind presented a minor problem, but
Kelly Atkins Hinson who put the program together
Handled the situation with grace and diginity.
A true Southern Belle, God Bless Her.
My good friend John Stones also handled a situation with cool dedication.
Filling in for the preacher who was called away.
"What does it mean when a Baptist Preacher takes his watch off, looks at it and places it on the podium" ?
( ABSOLUTELY NOTHING )
All kidding aside Thank You John, you did a flawless job.
The Eulogy is at the bottom of this page **
Over 100 new Markers were dedicated.
This was one, John Stones G.G Grandfather
As the names were read a small bell was sounded.
All in all, it was a wonderful day.
I was happy to be there.
God bless all who put in so much effort to honor our ancestors.
**Eulogy from May 31, 2014 at Hollywood Cemetery dedication: Mark 14: 3-9
We gather today as friends, compatriots, and descendants of Confederate soldiers, My Great,Great Grandfather - Private Thomas P. Darnall, Company F, Third SC Infantry - was thefirst to be located, this past Thanksgiving season, by the revitalized Southern Soldier Remembrance Foundation. My family had been searching for his burial place for years but had met nothing but frustration in our search because of a gross misspelling in the existing documentation after the War. Thank you Southern Soldiers Remembrance Foundation for bringing our search to an end and filling our hearts with joy after 151 years of my ancestor lying in an unmarked grave!
The Scripture I chose for this occasion reminds us of the importance of memorials. The woman that anointed our Lord with the expensive oil will be remembered forever because of her actions in showing her reverence to our Lord. Without memorials we would never be reminded of the debt of gratitude we owe to those that stood for truth and went before us. Folks, it's up to us to make sure the next generation knows the truth! We cannot leave it to government schools because,all too often, "truth" to them changes with the political winds of the times.
Gen. Patrick Cleburne stated it best on January 2, 1864:
Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late... It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern schoolbooks their version of the War: will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects of derision.
The task is ours to see to it that the truth of our heritage gets passed on to the generations that follow us!
The soldiers we gather to honour today fought for various reasons but the greatest among them was to defend hearth and home from a ruthless invader. They stood, 150 years ago, to defend the very principles their fathers had fought for in the American Revolution. They stood ready to give their all that those principles might be passed on to us and we must be willing - today - to stand and pass those truths on to those that come after us!
Allow me to close with the words of another South Carolinian, those of General Wade Hampton,
spoken by him in Warrenton, VA on June 12, 1873:
But while we accept our defeat with the consequences that legitimately follow it, it is our right to justify our cause, to vindicate our motives, to honour our dead. This is not only a right, but a sacred duty. We owe it to ourselves, our children, to those that died in the effort to keep us free, that we should cling with unshaken fidelity to these principles which we believe to be true!
May we NEVER forget or grow tired of proclaiming that truth!
We gather today as friends, compatriots, and descendants of Confederate soldiers, My Great,Great Grandfather - Private Thomas P. Darnall, Company F, Third SC Infantry - was thefirst to be located, this past Thanksgiving season, by the revitalized Southern Soldier Remembrance Foundation. My family had been searching for his burial place for years but had met nothing but frustration in our search because of a gross misspelling in the existing documentation after the War. Thank you Southern Soldiers Remembrance Foundation for bringing our search to an end and filling our hearts with joy after 151 years of my ancestor lying in an unmarked grave!
The Scripture I chose for this occasion reminds us of the importance of memorials. The woman that anointed our Lord with the expensive oil will be remembered forever because of her actions in showing her reverence to our Lord. Without memorials we would never be reminded of the debt of gratitude we owe to those that stood for truth and went before us. Folks, it's up to us to make sure the next generation knows the truth! We cannot leave it to government schools because,all too often, "truth" to them changes with the political winds of the times.
Gen. Patrick Cleburne stated it best on January 2, 1864:
Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late... It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern schoolbooks their version of the War: will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects of derision.
The task is ours to see to it that the truth of our heritage gets passed on to the generations that follow us!
The soldiers we gather to honour today fought for various reasons but the greatest among them was to defend hearth and home from a ruthless invader. They stood, 150 years ago, to defend the very principles their fathers had fought for in the American Revolution. They stood ready to give their all that those principles might be passed on to us and we must be willing - today - to stand and pass those truths on to those that come after us!
Allow me to close with the words of another South Carolinian, those of General Wade Hampton,
spoken by him in Warrenton, VA on June 12, 1873:
But while we accept our defeat with the consequences that legitimately follow it, it is our right to justify our cause, to vindicate our motives, to honour our dead. This is not only a right, but a sacred duty. We owe it to ourselves, our children, to those that died in the effort to keep us free, that we should cling with unshaken fidelity to these principles which we believe to be true!
May we NEVER forget or grow tired of proclaiming that truth!
Amen! Thanks David!
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